Anyone who enjoys this article should check out American Kingpin written by Nick Bilton. I finished the audiobook recently and loved it! Very well researched, great story, nonfiction that reads like a fiction thriller, and great narration. Loved it.

Listened to American Kingpin on audiobook during a recent trip. It was pretty entertaining if anyone wants more information on this topic.

I've read all of these except Kochland (just ordered it now) and complete agree. You have great taste! Check out American Kingpin by Nick Bilton for a read somewhat similar to Bad Blood.

Do you have any other recommendations?

Nick Bilton did extensive research for his book American Kingpin and it all supports the theory that Ulbricht was the only DPR.

IRS agent Gary Alford found him first and was ignored. It’s detailed in American Kingpin and the following

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/27/business/dealbook/the-uns...

I read "American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road" and seeing how these agents committed these crimes and their jail sentence and then sentence that Ulbricht received seems a bit unjust to me.

I just finished the audiobook of American Kingpin and LOVED IT. Nonfiction that reads like a thriller. Very well done and the narration was also excellent (which also comes into play a lot for audiobooks!).

Bad Blood by John Carreyrou about the rise and fall of Theranos is very similar feel to American Kingpin, if you enjoyed one you will probably love the other; I thought both were equally fantastic, probably my best reads of 2018.

A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts - Andrew Chaikin. Loved it

A Man for all Markets - Edward O. Thorp. Loved his stories about counting cards and then moving onto hedge funds etc.

American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road – Nick Bilton. Not a bad rundown on the Silk Road. I came across this book after listening to the Casefile podcast https://casefilepodcast.com/case-76-silk-road-part-1/ which I highly recommend.

Origin - Dan Brown. Enjoyed his first couple of books and thought that this might be alright. It was okay.

American Kingpin was a really good read. It's the story of Ross Ulbricht, the guy that built the silk road.

It reads like fiction, but is a true story, and hits all the right buttons for me (technology, entrepreneurial spirit, understanding how to (or how not to) learn from your mistakes, etc.).

It's well written and hard to put down.

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The power of habit was also a really good read if you hadn't read it already.

I just finished the great audible book "American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt For The Criminal Mastermind Behind The Silk Road". Ultimately Ross Ulbricht was extremely careful and paranoid. What got him was a very old forum post announcing the Silk Road when he launched it. Even though he deleted the post, it was still in the forums database (soft delete), and Ross used his personal gmail address rossulbricht@gmail.com. Oops!

Seems like the AlphaBay founder was nowhere near as careful and technically proficient in OpsSec and DevOps as Ross. Arrogance. Running a darknet site is like gambling. Eventually the house wins. You'll make a mistake.

As a software engineer who didn't read almost any books about software engineering I have a question: How did reading any books about SWE changed the way you work?

I found that reading books on other subjects (from non-fiction I've read some biographies, some economics books, the usual suspects like Sapiens and such). I find that knowing a bit about everything is mainly a good way to keep conversations going because it enables you to chip in on many different subjects while otherwise it might be hard to find a common interest.

It also helps to see some issues that one might overlook. An example would be American Kingpin which shows how a good technical idea with no moral oversight might end up creating something that ultimately makes world a little bit worse.

Never pay ransoms. There is a great book "American Kingpin: The epic hunt for the criminal mastermind behind the silk road". In it, Ross Ulbricht said every time they paid hackers, they came back increasing the attacks and demands.

"If you give a mouse a cookie, he's going to ask for a glass of milk. When you give him the milk, he'll probably ask you for a straw. When he's finished, he'll ask you for a napkin."

After reading American Kingpin I get that Ulbricht did a lot of bad things, broke many laws, and should be punished. Yet at the same time the length of his sentence feels more like government retribution than punishment. The government piled on and I feel there's a strange parallel to be drawn between Mr. Ulbricht and Kevin Mitnick's abuse by the government. I hope his sentence is severely reduced and he gets a chance at rehabilitation and redemption.